Thrawn: Treason (Star Wars) (Star Wars: Thrawn) (2024)

Great book. I was a little dubious about this book. After the last book being slightly sub-par (good instead of great), Thrawn's character in Rebels brings more Imperial than any other incarnation of him. I was not sure what to expect from this book. I am glad to say I loved it and could not put it down.

The story takes place a week before the finale of Rebels season 4. Thrawn is seemingly brought in as a pawn of Tarkin to use make a grab for a certain battle station. Then Thrawn's loyalties are brought into question when his own people arrived on their own mission, bringing with a certain person not seem since book 1 and an enemy threat. Also, not all threats to the Empire are external.

It is interesting that Thrawn is a much an outsider to his own people as he ever was in the Empire. In Rebels, I saw Thrawn's ruthless side, but in the book, I am shown his loyalty to his crew and subordinates and, in turn, their gratitude and loyalty back to him. A few interesting characters and names to watch out for as well as an honourable mention of another Timothy Zahn created imperial character.

It was a great ending to this Thrawn trilogy, but is this the end of him? For some who were not known for his political savvy, he has loyalties in the Imperial military and has placed key individuals who would have continued to climb higher since his disappearance. Also, his own agenda has yet to be revealed. I might be wishful thinking, but I truly believe their is more to come.

Before tackling Treason, the book in front of us, I would like to put out a few preliminaries:

At one point Lucasfilm/Disney decided to reject the Star Wars universe that they had encouraged and eliminated more than 100 novels and short stories that fleshed-out the initial vision. Thrawn was a character that was part of that rejection, but it seems that he has been allowed back into Disney/Lucasfilm graces.

Why is this series compelling? This is the third book in the new Thrawn series If interested here are my reviews for
Thrawn https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thrawn Alliances https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thrawn is a unique composition of someone who can do what many of us would like to be able to do: determine from observation of another’s biometric signals what they are thinking/planning/doing next. Zahn uses this to reflect on the plot from a unique point of view.

His world of the Chiss Ascendancy is enhanced in this book. The “lost character” of Eli Vanto is moved back to the center in Treason. The number of key characters undergoes a massive increase and the plot reveals a substantial threat to the “Empire” and the Chiss Ascendancy in the form of another alien species, the Grysk. This isn’t a trilogy, so who knows how many further novels there are planned for this series.

If you have the opportunity and can afford the acquisition (My library was kind enough to acquire the CDs.), I recommend listening to Marc Thompson read the novel to you. For me, it makes a lot of this interaction more believable because Thompson has such skill at tone and inflection. He imbues his characters with personalities as well as different speech patterns. In this volume, there are so many characters and so much dialogue that I marvel at what he can accomplish.

What’s with T. Zahn? He is as good or better at world-building as any other writer of SF. He seems to have no trouble coming up with alien species and making their interactions with humans work. He also appears determined to push Lucasfilm/Disney to the wall with how he wants to populate the Star Wars universe. Time will tell if this marriage can hold.

In the lead up to Thrawn Treason, I had heard tid-bits and read some reviews from people I usually agree with that said that Thrawn Treason was a mediocre book and probably the worst of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn related books.

That, for me at least, was definitely not the case.

Thrawn Treason is a fun, intriguing novel. By the end, I felt as if Timothy Zahn had created a book that combined the concepts of George Lucas and Agatha Christie. The language and word choice used feels just exactly like what I've come to expect with Star Wars novels, as well as the pacing and the action and the characters, but had just enough mystery to keep me guessing throughout.

Two characters returned and I was really excited for their return. Eli Vanto and Admiral Ar'alani, who were each prominent in Thrawn and Outbound Flight respectively. I felt that I connect to Eli Vanto better than just about any canon character and even most legends characters. Thrawn's writing of his inner dialogue and his conflicing loyalties were fascinating. Ar'alani was intriguing because of her leadership abilities and the natural mystery that surrounds her and the rest of the Chiss. Even though I knew a lot of her original legends backstory, I felt Zahn made her character fresh and new.

The character who in my opinion is the standout of the novel is Commodore Faro. I was so intrigued by Faro's role as the "Watson" to Thrawn's "Holmes". This role was not as utilized as when Thrawn interacted with Eli Vanto in the first Thrawn novel, but I believe is actually used as well if not better here.

The common theme through this entire book, however, is loyalties. When it was marketed beforehand, the whole concept behind Thrawn Treason was that Thrawn's loyalties would be tested. While I do think that that is the case, I believe that the words "treason" and "loyalties" can describe the character arcs of all the people surrounding Thrawn as much as they pertain to Thrawn himself.

In regards to criticisms, which I believe can be found in every book, this book has few. I think that Zahn was hindered and like Thrawn in the book, he only had 1 week's worth of storyline that he was able to cover. As a result, everything seems to be happening all at the same time. Perhaps if he had had more opportunity to spread the events over time it would have worked slightly better. Also, there were several moments where Zahn would reference his other projects or Rebels, but rarely could I find any references to other author's works. Most Star Wars novels, particularly those of James Luceno, Alexander Freed, and Christie Golden(to name a few) include a boatload of references, but that is more of a personal preference than a legitimate gripe.

Overall, great, fantastic novel. I thought starting it and based off of other reviews it was going to be a paint by numbers Zahn novel, but the character development of the second act and the incredible vision of the third act is utterly wonderful and brilliant. 9.0 out of 10! Great job Zahn.

[If anyone wants to know, this book is for sure in my canon top 10, possibly #6]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reread:

I absolutely LOVE this book. This is definitely the tightest of the Thrawn novels, and it has such a compelling story. By the time we get here, we really root for Thrawn. He's the only Imperial who we cheer for AND is the only one to truly see the big picutre. If they only followed his ideas, the Empire would have won and been right at the same time. At times I think Zahn spends too much time with his main character, but then again, there is a reason Thrawn is so popular.

The action is always difficult for me to read, and it is still difficult here, but this mostly makes sense and Zahn is able to "dumb it down" for the reader by putting the reader in the shoes of Vanto, Ronan, and Faro.

Upon this reread, the character that stood out most was Faro. She really proves herself here and endears herself to me. I really really want more books with her.

And Vanto is probably the most relatable character in the canon. I absolutely loved his character in Thrawn and is written almost as well here. He is an excellent Watson to Thrawn's Sherlock. He has potential to become one of the best Star Wars characters of all time, and I hope he doesn't just get abandoned in the future.

Overall, still an amazing book. 9.2 out of 10. Fantastic job Zahn!

Seeing all the good reviews here, I'm so happy that they got something good out of this.

But sadly for me, it just seemed to have taken several steps back from the previous books.

In case anyone's wondering, I have read the Heir to the Empire trilogy a decade and more ago, and I remember fairly enjoying it.

In 2017 I remember cracking open the new Thrawn novel. I was a little excited, but not too much because I thought the whole hullabaloo over Zahn might be a little overblown. Little did I know, that book would keep me up the whole day and the whole night, keeping me from sleep until I had finished it.

I loved that book. I loved getting to know Thrawn over the years and having him and Eli fight back against overwhelming odds, creating a Holmes and Watson dynamic. I loved Pryce and the whole tie in to the events happening on Star Wars Rebels, that book was simply perfect.

Thrawn Alliances was a little less so for me but it was still a great read because it was cool to read the difference in dynamic between young Thrawn and Anakin versus current Thrawn and Vader, and the Padme chapters were a plus, even though they dragged a little. It was an interesting mix that still felt like I was rewarded throughout the journey even if the ending was a little anticlimactic.

This however, had little of that. If the previous books had a familar character from Star Wars teaming up with Thrawn, this had a few choice appearances with a certain familiar character, but not even really good ones. He/she was just there to pop in and cause nuisance, put up a fuss, then pop out.

To say nothing of this new character that the book introduces and tries to tag along with Thrawn, well sorry, but that character was just plain annoying throughout. By the end I don't think their inclusion was ever really justified. It was almost like a Michael Bay character hitched for a ride.

Now with that said, I could have forgiven all that and still left with a 5 star experience had we gotten a really great read with involving characters and interesting conflicts. So did we?

Well on the one hand, we do get to learn more about the Chiss and a bunch of characters from Thrawn's crew rise to prominence. But they're not given that much to do. Yes they appear quite a bit, but they're really just props for Thrawn to channel his plans through them. The characterization throughout is pretty thin and although they do try to explain stuff to you about how people are thinking, it never really pulls you in.

The secondary baddies which the trilogy has been teasing for a while now, hinting at Thrawn's future conflicts, are just rather annoying here. Oh they do try to convey how menacing and cunning they're supposed to be, but unfortunately unlike many of Thrawn's plans, I felt like I was being given a series of ready-made conclusions rather than a carefully constructed piece of art that guides me to the same end.

Lastly however, I felt like the one thing that really pulled this story down was the lack of really interesting or even worthy challenges thrown at Thrawn. At no point did I think: "Whoah, that's pretty intimidating. Now how can Thrawn devise something to undermine and triumph over that?" No, the way it was presented, he was thrown a minor setback after minor setback, something that Jar Jar paired off with a half-competent officer could probably find their way around.

If Thrawn is your Holmes, then you need something fairly challenging and cool to make the journey worthwhile. Otherwise it's mostly just Thrawn sitting pretty on the bridge and blowing them off one by one. That could still be cool if executed right, but I don't think it did that well.

Having said that, Zahn still writes in a certain well-paced style so it was still a smooth-going read throughout. I have to acknowledge that these books do probably get written fairly quickly, in probably several months, as I've been hearing from Zahn, Claudia Gray and Delilah S. Dawson. But maybe this time it would have been better if the book's plotting or preparation had been given a little more time and care. I don't know. I'll still read more of Zahn's works anyway and I still look forward to where he takes Thrawn next.

I see so many reviews here blaming how Star Wars Rebels supposedly forced Zahn to be restricted in his storytelling. I'm sorry but I don't see how that's any excuse. While yes, the show probably forced him to restrict himself in terms of timeline and setting, this book could have still been a great experience if the right combination of tension and cat and mouse dynamics had been at play. But we didn't get any of that.

Usually I give books like this at least a three or four. But it was just the fact that Zahn had set up such a great reading experience with the first two that I had to end up giving it these two stars. If Goodreads allowed it I would have probably given it a 2.5 but well, they' don't.

This book is like reading a turn-by-turn description of a game of Risk being played by people I don't know, where one of the players correctly predicts every move for the entire game.

On page 181, are we to imagine that Sisay is making the Vulcan salute?

Well, it finally happened: Timothy Zahn wrote a “Thrawn” book that I actually sorta semi-liked.

Don’t get me wrong: there’s still a LOT in “Thrawn: Treason” – the third and what looks to be the final chapter in Zahn’s canon “Thrawn” trilogy – that I did NOT like. For one thing: after having now read three of his novels, I am unconvinced that there is a writer on the face of the planet who loves exposition quite as much as Timothy Zahn does. While one could certainly an argument that writing a character as methodical as Thrawn requires a certain degree of deliberate description, there comes a point when there’s just SO FREAKING MUCH of the stuff that the overall effect becomes exhausting, bordering on being numbing. Another casualty of the novel’s tendency to over-expound: the pacing. At 334 pages, “Thrawn: Treason” is a book that feels WAY longer than it is. Part of that has to do with a story that feels stretched beyond its limits (“Treason” could have easily and comfortably clocked in around the 275-page range); unfortunately, most of the story’s pacing issues are a direct outgrowth of Zahn’s love for expositing upon things that don’t need expositing.

That all being said…I will also say this for “Thrawn: Treason”: at least there’s a clear narrative through-line to grab onto. Whereas previous books “Thawn” and “Thrawn: Alliances” verged on being nearly indecipherable at points – there were significant portions of both books where I had literally no clue what was happening – “Thrawn: Treason” is blessed by a distinct and clear-cut antagonist at the story’s center that fuels most of the events over the course of the book. This results in a narrative that is, if not exactly thrilling, then at least never confusing. High praise, I know.

Bottom line: is “Thrawn: Treason” the best of the “Thrawn” trilogy? Undoubtedly. Is it ‘good’? Eh…I don’t know if I can quite say that. Still – it is a marked improvement over its predecessors, which isn’t nothing. And for someone who has been more or less disappointed in both Zahn’s storytelling and Thrawn as a character in this new “Star Wars” canon after hearing SO MUCH from SO MANY about the awesomeness of both over the years, “Thrawn: Treason” represents, for me, the first actual ray of hope that maybe – just maybe – there’s a worthwhile story to tell about the Grand Admiral after all.

This is the third book of a trilogy but it can be read as a stand alone. In this one, Thrawn takes on a challenge of solving a problem that is affecting the completion of Stardust (if you watched Rogue One you know what this is). He thought it was something simple but it turns into so much more.

I have to admit this one wasn't my favorite of this trilogy. It had some parts that I really enjoyed and some that just did not hit home for me. To me, Thrawn didn't shine in this book as minor characters shined in this book. Commander Faro and the return of Vanto were the highlights. I believe the problem with Thrawn in this book was I never felt any drama with him. Going into every sticky situation I knew he would come out on top. I know that this is tricky for an author to write about a character in a universe because we already know their actual outcome but I do need some tension. I also felt this book was a bit of a mislead. At the beginning it seemed like this book was going to explore Thrawn's loyalty to the Empire and this has been touched upon in previous books. Once again, it was touched upon and left up in the air. I could say that about several plots that they were left up in the air.

Thrawn is a great character but maybe the author has made him too infallible. Some conflict would be nice. I also felt like the author was going somewhere in the beginning and quickly changed directions. It seemed like he realized that there might be more books about this character and wanted to prolong it. This was a decent read with some really enjoyable insights but not my favorite.

If you are thinking of reading the trilogy, don't. Just read the first book. The enjoyment diminishes in every sequel. While Zahn might be the best new Disney Canon writer that I read so far, his plotting and story really need more work. Since this is Thrawn's last novel (so far), I had hight expectation that it would end with a crescendo. It did not. The book was a slog. If it were not because of the excellent audio narration and the great production (background music included), I would DNF it and maybe even throw some bantha dropping just to give it some flavor.

New characters were introduced, most of them were stick figure, forgettable character. One was particularly annoying and cartoonish. An old character was brought back but his role could be replaced but anyone since his interaction with Thrawn was very minimum and again, replaceable with another background character.

What irked me the most was the book even made Thrawn (and the Chiss freakin' Ascendancy) boring. The stakes were low, Thrawn was on top of everything, he was barely challenged. This is like being forced to watch Star Wars: Resistance. There, I said it.

Again, such a waste. Even the amusing political squabbles and intrigue involving Thrawn, Krennic, and Tarkin became bland at the end, along with the lackluster reveal.

A good entertaining read --- the best way to wrap up the Thrawn Trilogy. I won't go into detail, but the beginning of the plot starts with Grand Admiral Thrawn seemingly being given the mundane task well below his high rank --- of all things ---- pest control --- which, surprisingly he accepts. Somewhat akin to, during World War 2, Admiral Nimitz being tasked by FDR to investigate excess barnacle build ups on ship hulls.

Perhaps due to Thrawn's ability to sense things being much more than what they, at first, appear to be --- or just plain luck --- this mission turns into something far more, involving a serious threat to the Empire.

If I have one gripe about this trilogy, it's that, once elevated to Grand Admiral, Thrawn continues to be portrayed as more a squadron commander of small forces of ships. Given that a Grand Admiral ranks as high or higher than a Navy Fleet Admiral (i.e. a five-star), shouldn't a Grand Admiral be responsible for fleets of hundreds of ships? I know, it's nit-picking.

At any rate, just go with it. Like Volume 1 in the Trilogy, it's a fun, entertaining read as well sci-fi should be!

So proud of my boy Eli and his Chiss fam

talk about “real housewives of imperial leadership” vibes

GOD...i love

This book offered closure on absolutely zero topics.

Is this a trilogy or a tetrology? I know Zahn has more Thrawn pitches, and they had BETTER let him make it a tetrology. I need answers. Seriously, answers on at least ONE mystery would be nice.

Anyway, did I enjoy this book? Absolutely. It takes place entirely before the Rebels finale, and the tension of knowing that this is Thrawn's last hurrah before he gets yeeted into the vacuum by Ezra's space whales definitely ramped up the tension. At first, it's some petty bureaucratic snit-fest, where Orson Krennic and Tarkin force Thrawn to take on some mission to rid the Death Star supply lines of vermin. That's right, it's Thrawn: Pest Control. The whole situation is hilarious.

Obviously, that doesn't last long before Thrawn uncovers some massive, treasonous plot which he then proceeds to hunt down and unravel.

The good news? He immediately runs into Admiral Ar'alani and my boy ELI VANTO.

The bad news? Thrawn and Eli don't talk. Like, at all. Okay, they talk two times I think, but just briefly about mission things. Guys, I was upset. Quite frankly, I'm still upset.

Eli gets involuntarily sent on a field trip mission, but apart from those chapters this ENTIRE book is strategic naval technobabble. Personally, I have never once cared about sailing ship things in my life. Pirates? Meh. Sea battles? Meh. Ship races? Eh. However, for some reason every dumb naval detail that my dim and foggy brain can barely comprehend is absolutely THRILLING when it's part of this series. Every time Thrawn says something like, "Commodore, prepare my ship" I'm this close to LOSING it. "The Chimaera is rolling!" Broadsides this, ventral cannons that. Like, I don't get what's happening at ALL but at the same time I'm loving it.

The one really AWESOME, showstopping moment was the finale. Thrawn goes onboard the enemy's ship and hangs out with the enemy on his bridge, while Commodore Faro fights the battle outside, following the extremely detailed, thirty-six step plan that Thrawn wrote for her beforehand.

First of all, how cool is it that Thrawn won a battle against three-to-one odds without even being there, essentially? Second of all, Faro gets promoted away from the Chimaera in this book, and I love that she got such an amazing sendoff. She's such a great character in her own right, that it was fantastic to see her get a moment to really shine. I hope she has a good future and gets out of the Empire quick enough, given that we are approaching 0 BBY at literally blinding speeds. What a time to get a promotion.

Ar'alani is another star here. She has so much more character and individuality than I was expecting, and I need so much more of her and the Chiss and the Chiss navigators and the Chiss politics and the Chiss approaching civil war... Ar'alani's dynamic with Thrawn is so much fun; they almost have a sort of sibling feel, where they both know each other very very well but also spend most of their time being mildly annoyed at each other.

Overall, this book was eighty percent naval nonsense and twenty percent ominous foreshadowing. ZERO closure. ZERO heart-to-heart talks. MORE confusion than when I started out. MORE mysterious details that have to mean something but that certainly aren't explained. NOT enough Eli Vanto, although I am certainly grateful for what I was given. I knocked it down one star because of the combination of lack of closure and lack of character time. Surely we could have had ONE less naval-babble scene if necessary, in order to let any character have an important personal talk with any other character?

I still absolutely had a rollicking ride reading it, though, and am urgently waiting for more. Some other notable details:

• Thrawn is just... not having a good time here. He's understated about everything, of course, but you can tell. The ending especially is VERY melancholy, where everyone leaves him almost completely alone and isolated. You can almost feel the walls closing in as 0 BBY approaches, Ezra's time draws near, the Emperor's favor is waning, etc. Hopefully Ezra's space whales actually turn out to be a good thing, and in the next book we can pick up years later and have a fun time tackling some Grysk and Chiss civil war issues, leaving the Empire to burn.

• On a semi-related note, we learn that Thrawn DID IN FACT CHOOSE, ON HIS OWN, to undertake his mission to the Empire, and that he CAN IN FACT LEAVE at any time he wishes. Ar'alani is constantly begging him to "come home," but for some reason Thrawn is like no, I must be here. It makes one wonder... why? Can he not feel the doom on the horizon? Does he still think the Empire can be useful, after all he's seen? Like, WHY?

• Ar'alani hugging the navigator. The contrast between her role as an admiral and the girls' somewhat harsh and bare lives and the very real affection they all have for each other. So good.

• "Commodore, is my ship ready?" "She is, sir."

• WHY ON EARTH........ did Thrawn send Ronan back to the Ascendancy. He implied it was to be a useful mole they could feed misinformation to or something, but first of all, why would they need that? The Empire doesn't even know where the Chiss are. Second of all, the Empire's not even going to be around that much longer. This has to mean something. I'm so confused.

• Are the Grysks going to come up later in some plot-important way? Because that whole line about "three can command a nation, 100 can rule an entire world" combined with their increasing forays into Imperial space makes it seem like they should eventually become a huge galactic menace. And yet here we are, in the Sequel trilogy, not a Grysk to be seen, unless...

• SNOKE WAS A GRYSK. Sorry, it's a fact, I don't make the rules.

• That moment at the end where Ar'alani asks Eli what he would have done to fulfill the navigators' request, and Eli tells her he would have shot them at the enemy like a bomb. Wow. Nice. He's small but also ruthless.

• ISB Major Dayja is my new favorite Star Wars character. I love him? Does he know Sinjir Rath Velus? Because I think they would get along.

I received a copy of Thrawn: Treason from Penguin Random House Australia to review.

Rating of 4.5.

The master of Star Wars extended universe novels, Timothy Zahn, returns with a third incredible book in his outstanding Thrawn series, Treason, which features the final adventure of his most iconic protagonist, Grand Admiral Thrawn, before his last appearance in Star Wars: Rebels.

In Treason, which is set in the midst of the fourth season of Star Wars Rebels, Thrawn is forced to postpone his campaign against the Rebels on Lothal when Grand Moth Tarkin informs him that funding for his Tie Defender Program is at risk of being reappropriated by Director Krennic’s secret program, Stardust. Placed in the middle of a political battle between Tarkin and Krennic, Thrawn must ensure the security of Stardust’s supply chains in order to retain his funding. What at first appears to be a routine mission against a dangerous form of alien space vermin quickly reveals that the supply lines are actually being targeted pirates who have knowledge about the materials being sent to Project Stardust.

The subsequent arrival of a Chiss ship with his former protégé Eli Vanto serving aboard raises further problems, when they reveal that a force of Grysk ships are active deep within Imperial Space. Now Thrawn must not only find out what the Grysk’s mission is but also foil a large-scale conspiracy from within the Empire. As Thrawn engages his opponents in space, the real danger comes when his loyalty to the Empire is called into question. Can Thrawn continue to serve both the Emperor and the Chiss Ascendancy, or will the Emperor finally tire of his treason?

View the full review at:
https://unseenlibrary.com/2019/07/21/...

For other exciting reviews and content, check out my blog at:
https://unseenlibrary.com/

To be honest I found this to be pretty boring, it just felt too similar to the previous books and it didn’t add anything new or particularly interesting.

3.5 stars

My single complaint is that there was not nearly enough Eli in this book. But considering that Eli was in it at all is a huge win.

As others have said, this is by no means a perfect book, but it held my attention and made me love these characters (and new ones, I need more Dayja STAT) even more than I already did.

I cannot wait for the Ascendency trilogy to show us Thrawn's past and to see where Zahn will take him next.

4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2019/09/08/...

This third novel which wraps up the new canonical Thrawn trilogy quite nicely, and might actually be my favorite of the three books. As readers have come to expect from this series, Treason once more takes us into the mind of the Star Wars’s greatest military strategist and tactician, the blue-skinned red-eyed Chiss alien known as Grand Admiral Thrawn. His creator and author Timothy Zahn also takes this opportunity to further embed the character into the greater universe, tying together the elements from the previous books to Star Wars: Rebels as well as Rogue One and more.

Treason, however, takes place prior to the culmination of those events. Our protagonist still has his hands full with Ezra Bridger and the rebels on Lothal, while Director Orson Krennic is yet pounding away at his secret project, codenamed Stardust, which of course is the Death Star. Dissatisfied with the rate at which things are going, Emperor Palpatine has temporary halted Thrawn’s own TIE defender program, tasking him to help Krennic instead. Needless to say, this does not go down well with anyone, except maybe the Emperor, who takes some sick delight from watching his senior commanders sweat under pressure. For Thrawn though, it is a revelation—he now knows where the Empire’s priorities are, and in order to maintain his own place in its hierarchy, he’ll have to learn how to play ball. First order of business is to find a solution to the gralloc problem, which has been plaguing Stardust’s supply lines for years. Closely related to the mynock, these giant space-faring creatures have been hampering ships by attacking and damaging their power cables. But as you’ve probably already guessed, the problem goes far deeper than a mere vermin infestation, and in time, Thrawn’s patience and methodological approach will suss it all out.

Meanwhile, the story also focuses on Eli Vanto, the young lieutenant we first met in the first novel of this trilogy. Having become Thrawn’s protégé of sorts, Vanto has gone to serve as an Imperial liaison in the Chiss Ascendency under the Grand Admiral’s direction, assigned to Admiral Ar’alani. When a turn of fate brings mentor and pupil together again, a larger threat in the form of a common foe to both the Empire and Chiss Ascendency is uncovered. This enemy is known as the Grysk, an aggressive alien race originating from the unknown regions who show no mercy in conquering and enslaving whole star systems. The problem is, they are already here, and may have already infiltrated the upper echelons of the Empire.

Like I said, I really enjoyed this novel, and appreciated the way it accomplished multiple goals while delivering a quality reading experience—which, I have to say, is a pretty high bar set by a lot of the new Star Wars canonical fiction as of late. First and foremost, I loved how Zahn continued to build on Thrawn’s character, which isn’t simply limited to telling us again and again what an evil genius he is. On the contrary, Thrawn isn’t really a villain here, nor can you really quite quantify him with words like “good” or “bad” because the truth is more complex. He is also not infallible, and Treason reveals some of his personal foibles and shortcomings. The Grand Admiral is an intellectual and results-driven type of personality which makes him scarily good at what he does, but it also means he has no time to waste on pleasantries and politicking. And unfortunately, in Palpatine’s Empire, political maneuvering is both a necessity and an art form. I also liked how we got to learn more about Thrawn through the eyes of his subordinates, which has been a recurring theme in all three books in the trilogy. Thrawn is good to his people, who reward him with their complete loyalty, and this can be gleaned through the POVs provided by Eli Vanto and also Commodore Karyn Faro.

As for the story, Treason offers plenty of action and intrigue. Whether you’re a hardcore Star Wars fan or just a reader with a passing interest, I think there’s plenty of entertainment here for everyone. As expected, the seemingly minor gralloc problem introduced at the start of the novel ultimately snowballs into a narrative of epic proportions, involving conspiracy, possible war, and of course, treason. But the book’s title also contains deeper meaning, as we soon discover. Thrawn is put in a very awkward place between the Empire and the Chiss Ascendency, leading to some of his fellow Imperials questioning his loyalty, and now he has apparently also landed his protégé Vanto into a similar position. Some pacing issues aside, the plot was overall quite impressive, and I have to applaud it for being more complex, clever and multilayered than I’d originally thought.

To sum up my thoughts, Thrawn: Treason was definitely worth the read. While the entire new trilogy has been a fantastic in-depth study on the character, this last novel takes it to another level and excels in characterization, making it my favorite of the three books. I won’t make any morecomparisons to the original trilogy because I think I’ve already done that enough in my reviews of the previous novels, but I will say this would also be a perfectly suitable introduction to Thrawn if you’ve ever been curious about the character, especially now that Rebels and Zahn have made him such an integral part of the new Star Wars canon.

Audiobook Comments: Mark Thompson is amazing, but you probably already knew that if you’re familiar with the Star Wars audiobooks. Once again, he delivered an outstanding performance, bringing the adventure and characters to life. His voices are superb, especially for Thrawn, whose tight-lipped inflection is just short of a lisp and sounds almost exactly like he does on the Rebels show voiced by Lars Mikkelsen. Thompson’s Eli Vanto is also worth a mention, his southern-boy accent emphasizing the character’s down-to-earth charm. I just can’t praise his work enough.

Well, this one’s three for three—Zahn’s canon Thrawn trilogy is definitely a hit for me! While this may debatably be my least favorite of the three, it was still a very solid one.

Once again, I love the character work here. Thrawn is excellent as always, and I enjoyed other characters like Faro, Ar’alani, and Eli Vanto, who hasn’t appeared since book one. The plot here is good as well. I also loved the later parts of this book, especially the battle that takes place towards the end. It really shows Thrawn’s strong intellect and was exciting to read. There are some great tie-ins to other parts of Star Wars here as well. Of course, the whole trilogy has ties to Rebels (which I still haven’t seen), but this book in particular ties in heavily to Rogue One due to Director Krennic’s presence and the ties to the Death Star project.

The only big negative I have for this one is that I did feel that the plot lost me a bit during the middle. No particular reason for it. I loved the setup for the book and the ending was fantastic, but the in-between did drag a bit, I think.

Overall this is yet another solid Zahn book. Definitely a great closer to this trilogy. I highly recommend the trilogy as a whole!

Rating: 8.5/10

Unfortunately, every problem that I had in Thrawn and Alliances were only amplified rather than addressed here and this book became the pinnacle of OC-self-aggrandizement. If Thrawn was never challenged in Alliances, here he barely needs to give any of his mental prowess to the tasks at hand. Never once do he nor any of his compatriots come into real danger, nor does he learn anything; rather, he already knows everything he'll ever need to know. If this trick was cute in Legends, it's far overstayed it's welcome here.

I actually probably enjoyed this as much as the first if not a little better. Thrawn is as great as ever. Some of the dialgoue is a little stilted but we learn a little more about the empires plans. Plot wise it started off great. 2/3in and it slowed a little bit. Havent read the original trilogy so not sure how this compares. Still a fun fanboy read.

So apparently i f*cked it up with this one. I read it in disorder. FML.... I skipped the second books and was confused throughout the whole thing. It is not a bad one by any means i enjoyed it alot.

This was just delightful. It moved SO quickly, the pacing was so good--I read it in just a few days, and couldn't really put it down. It had everything I've come to quickly love about Thrawn, and I will say that Zahn's talented because he made me care about people who work for the Empire. It was nice to see the development of a bunch of characters, like Commodore Fero. I will say that I went in without having seen any of Rebels but still had an amazing time--I might have missed some things, but it didn't impact my enjoyment.

I do want more, like please sir give me 800 stories of Thrawn being a stupid blue man going around the galaxy looking at art. I guess we'll see! But seriously this was a delightful time, and I really liked it. I feel like I'm the last person on earth to get to Thrawn but I've had a great time with this series, and if you want brain candy, you might enjoy it.

A typical Thrawn novel. Well plotted, though it drags a bit in the middle. Grand Admiral Thrawn (Sherlock Thrawn to his friends) remains a great character. I enjoyed the return of Eli Vanto, and thought the final battle was a highlight.

But I had more nits to pick with this book than the first two in the series. First, Ronan was just annoying. Not a character you love to hate, just annoying in his relentless whining and stupidity. Second, there were too many references to Star Wars Rebels, a show that may be canon but ... wasn’t good. My final criticism—considering this book is being listed as the final book in a trilogy—is that there were way too many plot lines left unresolved. Again, I guess I’m supposed to go watch Star Wars Rebels to see how it turned out? That’s not really what I’m looking for in a book series. A fun, quick read, but lacking big picture resolution.

I've yet to read Zahns original Thrawn trilogy, though I do plan on checking it out at some point. I've read this new canon trilogy pretty close together because I only got to reading the first book a little earlier in the year.

This is better than Alliances but not as good as the first book. I wanted to see more of the members of the Empire being unhappy about the funding Stardust was getting, taking it away from the fleet and other military forces. The Chiss Ascendancy the Grysk stuff was cool, but deceit and unrest within the Empire is cooler. Glad we got to see Eli Vanto again. It's also made me and to re-watch the last season of Rebels to see how it fits in.

"It's treason then" -Palpatine

despite the cover, Palpatine isn't featured heavily in this book. It was ultimately bland

if timothy keeps leaving out all the times thrawn and eli kiss in this book, i’m going to commit treason myself !!

Timothy Zahn's "Dark Force Rising" Trilogy, which introduced Grand Admiral Thrawn, is one of the best Star Wars trilogies written. Since then, he has written some newer books giving us more adventures of the Grand Admiral. These books are good, but nowhere near the quality of the originals.

Grand Admiral Thrawn must tread a dual path of loyalty to the Emperor and to the Chiss Ascendancy. This leads to problems when Director Krennic, project director of the Death Star program, assigns Assistant Director Ronan to accompany Thrawn on a mission that, if completed, will boost funding for Thrawn's TIE Defender project.
This mission spirals into a conspiracy of corrupt Imperial officials, inter-bureau conflicts, and a mysterious alien invader. Thrawn must use his superior intellect to navigate these troubled waters.

No more spoilers. A good story. I enjoyed seeing the Empire acting like a professional, albeit ruthless, military force, as opposed to the useless caricatures they are displayed as on screen. The politics of the upper echelons of the Empire also make for good reading. While not to the quality of the original trilogy, this is still a fun read for Thrawn fans.

Audiobook review for 2nd reading. As usual the audiobook read by Marc Thompson is phenomenal. I really hope Admiral Ar'alani and Thrawn meet again post season 4 of Rebels. Upon rereading this book I caught all the hints for the third act sprinkled through the book and how all were utilized, no thought left dangling. I hope when we learn what happened after Ezra kidnapped the entire Seventh Fleet that this bridge crew and Faro are alive and well. I've become rather fond of them. The examanination of treason and loyalty works well, showing Thrawn's balancing act starting to slip while still covering for his crew, even as it hints at his soon being emotionally compromised if not already so. I really wish we'd gotten his thoughts on the battle for Lothal. Perhaps future books will cover this.

Original review

So when do we get to go on another adventure with Thrawn? I swear they are just teasing us about the Rebels series finale at this point. Great adventure, answered questions, created new questions, and Admiral Ar'alani was brilliant! So many great characters, and so much fun. Man I wish the movies were as artistically done as these books. Seriously, I need books 4, 5, and 6. Zahn's writing is masterful, and fast paced as always. This book grabbed me and didn't let go. I want to reread it immediately.

“May warrior’s fortune be ever in your favor.”

A fun read, if shallow and obvious. Hey, it’s Star Wars. The question is never whether Thrawn will outsmart most everyone, but how.

“I don’t think he said no,” [she] said. “Just not yet. So stop pouting, Senior Lieutenant, and get your crews ready.” She looked out the viewport. “The universe is about to get interesting again.”

Timothy Zahn is exceptional in the Legends (formerly Expanded Universe) of Stars Wars (both BD and AD: Before Disney and After Disney) for creating new characters and stories which really do expand the SW universe below the basic story thread. (Karen Traviss is another.) Characters he created, most notably Mara Jade and Grand Admiral Mitth’raw’nuruodo, contribute richness and depth to the Legends. Jade was an unfortunate casualty of the Disney buyout; Thrawn weathered the transition intact: to the point that this series ties into SW Rebels series as well as the central SW thread.

“Learning about each other’s ways and learning how we’re alike despite our differences is a way to enrich our lives.”

This rating is relative to other Legends stories, not an absolute scale against all literature.

“Waiting was always a chore. Waiting for combat was excruciating.”

*sniff* Finished it already... sigh... well, at least I can listen to it again, and again, and again. So, this one was my favorite part. And yes, it has a lot to do with the fact that Rogue One topped Empire as my favorite movie after 40 years, and this has Krennic and Tarkin and Stardust. But it's also more Thrawn, the star of it, and we get Eli back too. There still is plenty that can make at least fourth book in the series (not to mention we could use the answer as to what really happened to Thrawn in the Rebels series), so definitely hoping there will be more in the future! :)
--------------------------
11/5/20 - relistening to it as part of my comfort read week :)
--------------------------
12/19/2021 - Okay, so, this is clearly an utterly huge favorite reread of mine, but at least this time I relistened to it because I wanted to continue through the original three books after reading Lesser Evil to see how it all fit together. This one's way more Empire and less with Chiss stuff, but still a bit more enlightening now after those Ascendancy books. :)
--------------------------
6/2023 - just continuing on my rereading of the books before Ahsoka comes out :)